1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to a hidden edge connector for mounting panel to frame opening, more particularly to a hidden edge connector which provides a method, for not only securely fixing the panel on a wall or a picture frame but also keeping a front surface of the wall or frame in a clean and obstructing free manner.
2. Description of Related Arts
Many homeowners would like to do home improvement during weekends. Unless the job is particularly difficult or requires a certain skill to be completed, the homeowners would like to be “do-it-yourselfers” to reduce the labor expense of the contractor. For example, repairing a dry wall and the same is considered as a simple job for the do-it-yourselfers.
Generally speaking, a handy man uses spackling compound to repair small cracks or nail holes at the dry wall. However, in order to repair a bigger hole, some tips may be very useful. First, the handy man will cut a larger opening on the wall through the hole and prepare a repairing panel having a size fitting into the opening. Then, a plurality of panel mounts are used for affixing to the surrounding edge of the opening to retain the repairing panel within the opening. Lastly, the spackling compound is filled to seal the gap between the wall and the repairing panel. However, such panel mount has several drawbacks.
Accordingly, a conventional panel mount comprises a U-shaped wall holder defining a holding slot arranged to mount at the front side and rear side of the wall at the surrounding edge of the opening and a holding panel extended to hold the repairing panel at a rear side thereof. Therefore, when the repairing panel is disposed within the opening, the rear side of the repairing panel is biased against the holding panel to retain the repairing panel in position. However, the width of the holding slot must be configured corresponding to the thickness of the wall. If the width of the holding slot is slightly larger than the thickness of the wall, the panel mount cannot be securely affixed to the wall at the surrounding edge of the opening to hold the repairing panel in position.
In addition, since the wall holder of the panel mount must be affixed to the front side of the wall, the wall surface cannot be fixed to form an even surface after the spackling compound is filled and sanded. Therefore, the wall cannot be repaired to have the original flat wall surface once the panel mount is used. In other words, the front side of the wall cannot be perfectly aligned with the front side of the repairing panel.
Furthermore, the spackling compound can only be filled at the front sides of the wall and the repairing panel. Therefore, the spackling compound may not be strong enough to bond the repairing panel within the opening. Once an exterior force, such as earthquake or an impact force, is exerted at the repairing panel, a crack will formed thereat. If the exterior force is large enough to break the bond of the spackling compound at the front side of the wall, the repairing panel may even be dislocated within the opening.